Farrington's Jeneva Toilolo pulls down a rebound against Kalani. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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Kalani's Carly Kakuda heads to the basket for a shot attempt against Farrington. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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Farrington's Penina Faumui puts up a layup against Kalani. Jim Lebeau | Special to SL

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Wed, Jan 29, 2014 @ McKinley

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Kalani

58

Farrington

68

Final	1	2	3	4
Kalani (4-6, 14-15)	13	14	17	14	58
Farrington (9-3, 11-5)	15	17	12	24	68

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

P. Faumui 23 pts  9/10 FTs

C. Kakuda 21 pts  9/10 FTs

J. Toilolo 22 tot

S. Kishaba 6 tot

N. Cabato-Macado 1 ast

T. Iinuma 1 ast

It was a physical game for the 2014 OIA White division title as the Farrington Lady Governors defeated the Kalani Lady Falcons, 68-59, at McKinley's Student Council Gymnasium. The Lady Govs captured their seventh OIA title and first in the White division.

"It feels great and it's the girls that deserve it not just the 'bigs' but everybody on the team with all their contribution to the team that's why we are successful" said Farrignton head coach Steven Leopoldo, a 1983 graduate of the school.

The high scoring affair came as no surprise, as the two teams came into the game as the top scoring teams in Division II.  Kalani averaging 59.2 points per game and Farrington right behind with 54.7 ppg.  They had also met once before on January 9th and was a 59-57 victory in favor of Farrington.

Farrington destroyed Kalani on glass with a 62-18 advantage. With a lot of one and done shot attempts for the Lady Falcons, it was hard for them to keep pace with the Lady Governors.

Kalani opened up with good pressure defense and was able to cause a few turnovers to begin the game and held a 13-10 lead before a 3-pointer from Farrington's junior guard Ana Teekafa to tie the game at 13.  Teekafa then hit a floater in the lane to end the half and give the Governors their first lead heading into the second quarter 15-13.  Teekafa finished with 5 points and 4 rebounds.

The back and forth match continued in the second quarter, but Farrington finally got some distance between themselves and Kalani when senior forward Penina Faumui made a beautiful spin in the lane and finished with the right hand to make it 30-23.

Farrington took a 34-27 lead into the half but coming out of the intermission, Kalani emerged a more determined team and closed the gap to just two off a layup from 5-foot-3 guard Carly Kakuda.  A little while later, Kakuda hit two free throws to inch Kalani into the lead at 41-40 with 2:54 left in the third.

Kakuda lead Kalani in scoring with 21 points and 3 steals, but was hampered with tightness throughout the game.

"It was just cramps, nothing serious," said Kalani head coach Chi Mok of his senior leader Kakuda.

Before the buzzer to end the third quarter senior guard Tailii Iinuma hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game at 44 heading to the final stanza.

Down the stretch the Kalani 3-point shooting would fail them and the Lady Governors would turn it up offensively with the 5-foot-10 Faumui who scored 15 of her game high 23 in the last quarter.

Coming into the game, Faumui led the Division II in scoring with 23.4 points per game but struggled early with just 2 points at half time.

Along with the presence of Faumui, the Govs got great output from the second-leading scorer in Division I, 6-foot-1 forward Jeneva Tuilolo, who finished with 20 points 2 blocks and a remarkable 22 rebounds.

The Govs' win over Kalani to claim the OIA White title earned them a first round bye in next week's HHSAA Division II girls Basketball tournament.

"It means so much especially when we have to represent the school, this community our families, we know that they are 100 percent behind us supporting us it means so much for us to win this," commented junior forward Tuilolo.

Freshmen Molimau Heimuli added 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Kalani came in as the leading 3-point shooting team in Division II with 86 added seven more to their total, including three of them courtesy of senior Tryistyn Nishibun, who finished with 15 points but fouled out with 2:03 left in the game.

"This will definitely strengthen us, we'll learn from this, we love playing against bigger teams and it will get us ready for states," remarked Kalani's coach Mok about the loss.

"It's a big thing for us, we're not satisfied we want the states and we know we can get it.  It's just all the hard work we have to put into practice,"

The Lady Govs earned their first OIA title since 2011, when they won the Red division, and first ever in the White.